That very injury is what took Bush off the board in the 4^th round of the NFL Draft instead of the 1^st. That same injury is also what cost him a year of service in the NFL. Scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, the league ruled Bush’s first season did not count towards his contract status. Therefore the Raiders got Bush’s services at a discount for another year as all they had to do was place the highest contract tender possible on the stud backup ensuring no other team would match the offer.

Now the Raiders could have done themselves a favor and opened contract talks with Bush prior to the start of the season. That would have at least allowed them to get ahead of the sure-to-be Bush sweepstakes this coming offseason.

Safe to say the price tag on Bush was a little less until he took over again for McFadden and pushed Bo Jackson out of the Raider record book.

ESPN’s AFC West blogger Bill Williamson had an interesting take on what will happen between Bush and the Raiders once the season is over. In his weekly chat session Williamson was asked what Bush’s future in Oakland will be. Williamson responded with the following.

I think he could get paid starter’s money and he may want a chance to be the lead back. This could be a Michael Turner situation from a few years back in San Diego.

Now teams have been calling the Raiders about Bush for years. Once he proved his leg injury was a thing of the past not a season has gone by in which there wasn’t some trade rumor involving Michael Bush.

But this is a much different beast.
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